Viewing entries tagged
freelance filmmaker
For this one we shot remote interviews in America and Australia with great characters. I collaborated with excellent science communicator and animator Lily Shepherd and we made this short film about the discovery of B and T cells. It was a fun project to work on. You have to be happy when a 91 year old scientist swears (gently) in your film.
I got to work with the Schmidt Ocean Institute again, sailing around the Phoenix Islands Protected Area. We were exploring never-before-seen deep corals, and the incredible ecosystems they support. My job is engaging the public with the research happening on board, sharing the incredible stories behind the cutting edge science.
Here are some 4K mini-highlights
My favourite film of the trip is here
What can a steam-powered brass band teach us about our place in an ever expanding universe? This film shoot saw us repeat a historic experiment, using trumpets and trains to shed light on how waves work, why sirens sound weird when they speed past us, and how we know that stars are moving away from us.
<iframe width="400" height="500" frameborder="0" src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05bxzhh/player"></iframe>
I wanted to dig into some of the structures of storytelling and show how everyone has a story they can share. We used the excellent BBC Radio4 programme 'Short Cuts' as a starting point to pick great story segments, then link them with key advice on storytelling from Josie Long. All mixed within the pages of an animated book. It was a really fun one to work on and hopefully will contribute to more people spinning yarns.
I was asked to make a short film about conversation for Radio 4. I chose to focus on 'The Listening Project'. An inspiring programme where ordinary people interview their friends, and loved ones. It's quite a unique form of media and can create some very inspiring, real, moments. I'm fascinated by layering visual elements on audio stories, and wanted to create an animation made from audio wave forms. For me this represents how we all have these conversations inside us. Hopefully this film celebrates the act of sharing. So go on, give it a share! It's good to talk, and even better to listen.
I've been a vegetarian for a few years now and really wanted to make a film to show that it's not hard, and definitely not dull Using a mixture of unusual ingredients, bold colours and text we made a Facbeook-friendly film that hopefully will inspire some chefs to mix up their food, and lower their Carbon footprint.
I love the guys at 10:10 they are a really cool small charity making waves, and taking on the biggest problems facing the planet. I enjoyed making this short film, and I got to weatherproof my draughty windows in the process.
I was really inspired by the work of the Paper Cinema and their amazing production of the Odyssey. I went to a workshop to learn some of their live animation techniques, and combined them with stop motion in this piece. I wanted to use the medium of anxious doodling to tell this story, and collaborated with the awesomely talented artist Alice Clarke. We spent a lot of time cutting drawings out, gluing them onto cardboard and patiently moving things around. Extra thanks to Gavin Farlie of GJF Productions who did some excellent puppetry.
Watch the film on the Radio4 website here
I've been collaborating with ace multimedia journalist Meera Senthilingam on some multimedia features for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Piece one on Chemsex in the MSM community:
Meera has spent a longer time researching the topics, and writing the features. I have three days budgeted to work on coming up with some visual concept for the films, film them and execute the edit. It is a very tight turnaround, and I’d obviously like more time, but there is also great creative power in having boundaries. You can get a lot done in three days.
There are plenty of people like Arif and Duncan whose stories deserve to be heard. It’s possible to do these quickly, particularly when collaborating with someone, like Meera, who has had more time to get deeply involved in the topic, and who understands multimedia. Anyway I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.
It was a real privilege to tell Arif’s story of forced migration from Afghanistan, and to be allowed access to Duncan’s world, who opened up about the struggles and difficulties he’s faced with Chemsex. It’s essential to show the human side of these stories, to help people engage with the research questions that go alongside them.
I want to make more of these short portraits, so get in touch if you have a story you want to tell. But more than three days is preferable THANKS!
I was asked to come up with a concept to tell the great story of Balcombe, a village targeted for fracking by Cuadrilla in 2013. The town responded by protesting, resisting and pledging to go fully renewable.
We painted their story in light under the guidance of light artist Sola, and with the help of the awesome schoolkids and local villagers.
It was a privilege to tell the story of a committed community, not just saying no to something, but saying yes to doing things differently. We had to change the structure of the film a bit as government cuts to solar subsidies threatened to kill the project. But they are back and planning to expand their solar offering. You can get involved here.
The second of my 'how to' films for BBC Radio4 is now live. It's been going down really well on Facebook and was one of the most popular on the Radio4 website in it's first week. It was a fun one to direct, talented bunch of actors, and I'm really pleased with how it's come out.
Go and watch some Passion in Practice Shakespeare if you get a chance, it's really cool.
"Thou weedy, fat-kidneyed, bug bear..."
Posted by BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, 1 March 2016
I spent 30 days embedded on the ship R/V Falkor, a scienctific research vessel sailing around the pacific ocean. I was documenting a group of scientists seeking out underwater volcanoes known as hydrothermal vents. It was a really cool project. The deep ocean is a uniquely challenging environment to work in, from battling seasickness in a typhoon, to competition for wifi. The trip was a huge success, the scientists discovered some really cool stuff, and will be returning next year with deep dive cameras to film and sample the incredible life that thrives at these newly discovered vents. We made lots of films, wrote blog posts, took photos, did stop motion animation (on something that never stopped motioning) and ran a competition to engage audiences with the project. Part 2 coming in 2016, stay tuned!
I made a couple of short films for The Human Zoo on Radio4. One was the most viewed feature on the website that week. The plan was to make a 1 minute concept explainer/teaser for the radio show. It did really well on Facebook and hopefully brought in a different audience to enjoy this ace social psychology radio programme. I had to star in this video as well as direct, as the turnaround time was so tight. A lot of people thought my shirt was irritating, one guy said I looked like Stephen Merchant. I have a strange job sometimes.
How irritated do you get when somebody reads over your shoulder on public transport? Enjoy this short video of life's unwritten rules being broken...
Posted by BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday, 24 June 2015
I directed this short film for Physics World looking at how light affects our health. I got to meet a professor who made a profound discovery about the eye, and a blind psychotherapist who completely changed how I think about light.
Additional Camerawork: Mark Billy Svensson, Cal Thomson
I directed a short animation about Malaria that was featured on BBC World News, you can check it out on the BBC website here
We won the Association of British Science Writer's award for Best TV Programme / online film.
Ace producer Lizzie Crouch wrote the script
Animation/illustration/hand acting help by the uber talented Patrick Koduah and Victor Opeyokun.
Here is a brief gif-based summary...
Mosquitos are developing resistance to our chemical weapons...
Scientists are working on a vaccine, but we don't have one yet.
It may be possible to infect the malaria parasite with a bacteria that stops it from reproducing.
It seems that simpler factors such design, landscaping and modifying buildings are perhaps our biggest weapons in the fight against malaria.
It's hoped that by understanding all of the features that affect Malaria transmission, we may be able to conquer it once and for all.
I directed a short animation about Malaria that was featured on BBC World News, you can check it out on the BBC website here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32690123
Ace producer Lizzie Crouch wrote the script
Animation/illustration/hand acting help by the uber talented Patrick Koduah and Victor Opeyokun.
I got commissioned by Nature to direct and edit a film about epigenomics. The idea was that the human genome could be thought of like a music score. It isn't just changing the notes that change how the music gets expressed. We managed to bring a talented group of musicians together and make the piece come alive. CP Snow tried to claim science and art were two separate cultures, well roll over Beethoven... we spliced together a mash up to challenge that idea.
I'm a freelance filmmaker, writer, podcaster and some time photographer I’m looking for commissions, collaborations, grants and cool opportunities to make things. My typical beat is art, science, and music; via documentary, comedy, journalism, and education. My strength is in digging for the great stuff that hides in the spaces in between.
I have produced work for the Guardian, BBC, BMJ, Nature, The Southbank Centre, London Live, The Royal Institution, Universal and many others. I've worked in the Pacific Ocean, Mount Everest, in hospitals, theatres and mostly in my attic You can see a recent showreel here:
I also do multimedia consultancy, so if you want someone to come into your organisation to work on your digital strategy, help you tell better stories, or start you off in making multimedia of your own get in contact.
I got commissioned by the Royal Institution to make a film detailing the origins of Xray Crystallography.
It was a real pleasure and privilege to learn about the fascinating work of the father and son team who invented it, a technique that has contributed to 29 Nobel Prizes so far.
Interviewing Lawrence Bragg's youngest Daughter Patience was particularly cool, she was really inspiring, interesting, lovely, and baked me a pie, that's a powerful combination that doesn't happen too often.
It was great to take a somewhat hard to penetrate subject and break it down into its parts; telling the narrative whilst intertwining it with the science.
Hopefully I succeeded. It's my longest short film to date at just under 9minutes, 1/10th feature length, so who knows by this time next year...
Our trip to Everest Base Camp coincided with the 60th anniversary of Hillary and Tenzing making the first summit of Mt Everest. The Guardian and the Ri Channel commissioned me to edit a film from our footage detailing the extreme environment that the scientists are operating in, and the fascinating work they are taking on.
If anyone else wants to send me up a mountain to make a film I am open to offers.
I recently got to go to the Himalayas for a month to document Extreme everest 2: a research project looking at the effects of low oxygen levels. We started off with a group of awesome kids, and this is a feature we shot for Newsround. I was Director of Photography Greg Foot was the presenter and Editor and the multi-skilled mountain goat Nick Insley was on sound.
One of the last things we filmed in Nepal was this fun episode of HeadSqueeze looking at: whether humans could ever fly, does stress make our hair go grey, and what Pins and Needles actually are...
